J.R.R.
Tolkien was born in 1892, Bloomfontein, South Africa. After three years in
South Africa, he returned to England with his Mother Mabel; unfortunately his
father died one year later, leaving him with little memory of his father. His early
childhood was, by all accounts, a happy one; he was brought up in the
Warwickshire countryside (many regard this idealised upbringing as the basis
for the Shire in Lord of the Rings).
In 1904,
when John was just 12, his mother Mabel died from diabetes leaving a profound
mark on him and his brother. After his mother’s passing, he was brought up by
the family’s Catholic priest, Father Francis Morgen. From an early age, J.R.R.
Tolkien was an excellent scholar, with an unusually specialised interest in languages.
He enjoyed studying languages especially Greek, Anglo Saxon, and later at
Oxford, Finnish.
Although
a scholar at King Edward VI school, he initially failed to win a scholarship to
Oxford. This was partly due to falling in love with his childhood sweatheart
Edith. On finding out of this romance, his guardian, Father Francis Morgan,
prohibited John from seeing Edith until he was 21 and no longer under his care.
Father Morgen, made John promise not to see Edith, and John reluctantly agreed
to his request. John faithfully waited until his 21st birthday, and on this
date he renewed his contact with Edith, and successfully persuaded her to marry
him. It is a testament to his belief in faithfulness and honesty, that he was
willing to wait several years to meet his wife; such sentiments of nobility
appear frequently in his writings; for example, the magnificent love story of
Beren and Luthien.
J.R.R.Tolkien in Oxford
From an
academic point of view, his separation from Edith seemed to do the trick, and a
year later he won an exhibition to Exeter College, Oxford where he would study
classics. John did not particularly shine in this subject and grew to enjoy the
pleasures of University life, though his meagre income made it difficult to
keep up with the spending habits of more affluent students. Uninspired by the
classics, John was able to switch to his real love English literature.
He was a
competent scholar, but a lot of his time was spent researching other languages
in the Bodleian library. It was here in Oxford that he became fascinated with
Finnish, a language which would form the basis for Quenya; a language he would
later give to his Elves. His love of languages remained with Tolkien throughout
his life; in particular, he began developing his own languages, a remarkable
undertaking. In fact, in later commented that languages lied at the heart of
his writings; the Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings. He actually said, the
stories existed to provide an opportunity to use the languages. Devotees of the
book may not agree, but it does illustrate the profound importance he attached
to the use of languages.
J.R.R.Tolkien First World War
At the
outbreak of the First World War, J.R.R. Tolkien decided to finish off his
degree before enlisting in 1916. Joining the Lancashire fusiliers, he made it
to the Western Front just before the great Somme offensive. At first hand,
J.R.R. Tolkien witnessed the horrors and carnage of the “Great War”; he lost
many close friends, tellingly he remarked “By 1918 all but one of my close friends
were dead”. J.R.R. Tolkien survived, mainly due to the persistent
reoccurrence of trench fever, which saw him invalided back to England. He
rarely talked about his experiences directly, but the large-scale horrors of
war, will undoubtedly have influenced his writings in some way. Perhaps the
imagery for the wastelands of Mordor may have had birth in the muddy horrors of
the Western Front.
It was
back in England, in 1917, that J.R.R Tolkien began working on his epic – “The
Silmarillion“. The Silmarillion, lies at the heart of all Tolkien’s
mythology, it is a work he continually revised, until his death in 1973. The
Silmarillion makes hard reading, in that, it is not plot driven, but depicts
the history of a universe, through an almost biblical overview. It moves from
the Creation of the Universe, to the introduction of evil and the rebellion of
the Noldor. It is in the Silmarillion that many roots from the Lord of the
Rings stem. It gives the Lord of the Rings the impression of a real epic. It
becomes not just a story, but also the history of an entire world and peoples.
Writing the Hobbit
Initially
J.R.R Tolkien’s writings on the Silmarillion were known by very few. He found
his time absorbed in teaching and other duties of being a professor. He also found
time to write important papers on medieval literature. These included seminal
works on, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Beowulf. In 1945, he was given
the Merton professorship, and gained additional duties of teaching and
lecturing.
It was
sometime after 1930 that Tolkien gained an unexpected inspiration to start
writing the Hobbit. It was whilst marking an examination paper, that he jotted
in the margins of a paper the immortal words “In a hole in the ground lived a
hobbit.” Unlike the Silmarillion, the Hobbit was a simple fairy tale and
adventure for children. Hinting at evil things, it still ends in a happy ending
for all and is primarily concerned with a triumph of good over evil. In the
course of the next few years, friends including C.S. Lewis, read his manuscript
and gave good reviews. In the course of time the publisher, Allen and Unwin,
got to read it; with a glowing reference from, Rayner Unwin, the 10 year old
son of Mr Unwin; the book was published to commercial success.
J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis
J.R.R.Tolkien
was good friends with C.S. Lewis and together they were key
members of the ‘Inklings’ an informal Oxford literary club, where writers met
together to read out poetry and short stories. Tolkien had a strong Catholic
faith throughout his life; he often discussed religion with C.S.Lewis .Lewis
later said that his conversations with Tolkien were a key factor in his
decision to embrace Christianity. However, their relationship cooled over the
years. There was a little friction over C.S.Lewis relationship with Joy
Davidson, but they remained firm friends and C.S.Lewis was always a stout
literary defender of Tolkien’s work.( Though Tolkien was somewhat less
enthusiastic about the work of C.S.Lewis.)
Lord of the Rings
Due to
the success of The Hobbit, Allen and Unwin, encouraged J.R.R. Tolkien to write
a sequel. Thus over a period of many years, J.R.R. Tolkien began writing the
Lord of the Rings. This soon became quite different to the hobbit, both in
scope and dimension. Putting its roots into the Silmarillion, it became an epic
of unprecedented depth. No longer was Tolkien writing a simplistic adventure
story; the triumph of good over evil is no longer so complete. Even in the
mission’s success there is no obvious happy ending. There is a feeling of
permanent change; nothing can remain as it is. As well as being a fascinating
story line, the book deals with many issues of how people respond to certain
choices and the influence of power and ego. It can be read in many ways, but it
does offer an underlying moral and spiritual dimension, which is inherent in
the development of the story.
Due to
the sheer scope and length of the book, the publishers Allen and Unwin, were
wary of publication. They worried about whether it would be a commercial
success. Eventually they decided to publish the book, but split it up intosix
sections; they also offered no payment to J.R.R Tolkien, until the book moved
into profit. The first edition was published in 1954, and soon became a good
seller. However, it was in 1965 when the book was published in America, that it
really took off becoming an international bestseller. Somehow the book managed
to capture the mood of the 1960s counter culture, and it became immensely
popular on American campuses. Tolkien, became a household name, and Lord of the
Rings would soon become renowned as the most popular book of all time.
Although
the book has received the most powerful popular acclaim, it has not always
received the same commendation from the literary world. In 1972, Oxford
University conferred on Tolkien the honorary degree of, Doctor of Letters. This
was not for his writing, but his researches on linguistic studies. Tolkien,
however, would have taken no offence at this award. For him his linguistic
studies were as important if not more so than his fictional literary endeavours.
He did
not particularly enjoy the fame that came from his literary success, and in
1968 he moved to Poole to gain a little more privacy. His beloved wife, Edith,
died in 1971, and J.R.R.Tolkien died a couple of years later in 1973. After his
death his creations gained increased popularity and sales. Even before the
release of the Lord of the Rings films, the book, “Lord of the Rings” was often
voted as best loved book of all time. His son, Christopher Tolkien, carefully
went through all his manuscripts, and published posthumously several histories
of middle earth, encompassing various early drafts of stories and histories.
